Tel Aviv Diary: Karen Alkalay-Gut

Somehow I imagine Obama like the biblical Joseph in Egypt. He’s certainly got the character of one of the biblical heroes. He is doing all the things I dreamt of in the past 20 years and whether it works out or not, it is wise, heroic, and kind. The idea of talking first and then making war only if all alternatives fail makes sense. It begins in the assumption of the fundamental human possibility to learn reason – homo est animal rationis capax. i would also add homo est animal amoris capax
Would you agree?
the above was written before his speech. Later I was at work and couldn’t hear the talk, even though it was broadcast all over the place, so i asked people how it was. The reactions were completely antithetical. Some were euphoric and others terribly depressed. I thought again of Joseph and what he did to Benjamin.

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At 11:00 a.m. the sirens went off and Shusha and I ran down to the shelter like obedient citizens. ( This despite the fact that I came home from all night filming at 9 in the morning. ) There were two other families out of the 18 in our building. Some of them were at work, but there were others who wouldn’t have made it in time – wheelchairs, walkers, etc. It’s always scary when you’re not totally in shape for running.
But it was really useful. We discovered the need for written instructions on the wall, for making sure that cellphones and batteries and flashlight and water get brought down with us. And we have to figure out what to do with all those neighbors who can’t manage the steps…
Of course many people ignored the drill – stayed in the cafes and shops and kept on with their lives. But I remember my friends from the first gulf war who laughed at me. One friend, a doctor, didn’t even have a gas mask, and jeered at the idea. But the night the bombing began she got so hysterical that she didn’t have a sealed room and a mask, she kept dowsing her face with baking soda and water and burned the skin.
So politics and the manipulation of society aside, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Not as much fun as you would imagine, but fascinating nevertheless. The leper hospital is just across the street from the Jerusalem Theater, but a totally different world. There is an exhibit going on right now, but since I’m playing the role of a nurse in a student film i am getting to see places from the inside.

This is one view. I’ll put some of our own on line shortly.
Notice, said Ezi to me last night, the way they collect water at every opportunity – the angles of the paths, the pools, the roofs and drains. There is so much to learn about how life was lived in this place. The arched walls are almost a meter thick to keep out the heat and cold. There seems to be no privacy, even in the little rooms, and there are definitely no mirrors.
Pictures and poems to follow.